The Randall’s in Uptown Houston reported double the business compared to a typical Friday.
HOUSTON — More predictable than, perhaps, the forecast itself are the items that fly off store shelves during a weather event.
Bread, bottled water, and even beer and wine were among the top sellers at the Randalls on San Felipe in Houston.
“This is probably double, double what we’d normally do,” store director Chris Leake said.
Leake showed us some impacted inventory at his store, where some shelves were bare.
But they’re adjusting deliveries, employee schedules and other things.
“We’ve kind of prepared for the weather; we always do that in advance,” said Leake.
Customers said they want to make sure they’re stocked up just in case.
“It’s good to prepare instead of, you know, being stuck,” said Joanna Quezon.
Pork chops, peanut butter, and snacks for her grandkids were on Judy Taylor’s shopping list.
We asked her what she was hoping for as far as the weather.
“Everybody be safe and stay home like I’m going to,” said Taylor.
April Jones was shopping for others.
She delivers groceries and other items through Uber and reported triple the number of orders.
“So, when I get one order for groceries, it’ll be like two more orders for two other customers,” said Jones. “I’m doing three shoppings at one time.”
Randall’s and other chains expected another rush on Friday evening and potentially Saturday, too.
Anything past that depended on what the weather actually does.
“Right now, it’s regular hours and we’ll kind of do that each day as we go,” said Leake.
We heard the same thing Friday from H-E-B and Kroger, while Walmart told us they’re also increasing supplies of things like blankets, batteries, and winter clothing.
